Kitchen makeover tips from HGTV's Meg Caswell

Heather Terveen is a writer and blogger with a passion for anything and everything related to creating beautiful spaces. She’s a contributing writer for SheKnows covering home, lifestyle and parenting topics. Follow her adventures in hom...

Make your kitchen great!

A kitchen can serve as grand central station for many families providing a gathering place for meals and entertainment. It can also be a home's nemesis by lacking functionality and modern updates. If your kitchen falls into the later category have no fear. We've gathered creative tips and some impressive before-and-after transformations from HGTV's Meg Caswell for your inspiration.

Meg Caswell, host of HGTV's Great Rooms, is known for turning lackluster great rooms into awe-inspiring spaces. We asked the reigning Design Star to share some of her best kitchen transformations with us. Keep reading to see what it takes to transform your own kitchen into an amazing space.

Stuck in the '70s

Before: From the patterned floors to the faux-stone walls to the drop ceilings, this kitchen was in desperate need of a face-lift.

After: Caswell turned this kitchen into a sleek and contemporary masterpiece by using slate-hued cabinetry, fun and dramatic lighting and high ceilings.

Transformation takeaways: This makeover is loaded with Caswell's cool, budget-friendly tips for creating a distinct look. Caswell says she used splashes of color around the room in low, medium and high areas, adding to the visual interest of the space. She used bold artwork (commissioned by a local artist) around the more permanent elements. For the final touch, she reconfigured cabinets to make the refrigerator look built-in and designed the island with an extendable leaf for extra seating — both elements provide a large bang for the homeowners' buck.

Cramped quarters

Before: This kitchen was too small for the homeowners' busy family and looked sterile with the all-white cabinets, counters and floors.

After: Caswell turned this kitchen into a modern, super-sized great room with dual-purposed island and built-in breakfast bar.

Transformation takeaways: Don't have an open-plan kitchen in your current home? Make one. Meg knocked down the wall in between the kitchen and an unused side room in order to create this great room space. She added budget-friendly details like attaching antique mirrors to the cabinets and incorporating colorful stencils on the walls to give a custom look. She also mixed the cabinet and countertop colors in order to add depth.

Blank slate

Before: The all-white space makes this kitchen look more like a hospital room than a family gathering area.

Transformation takeaways: Looking for ways to add a little personality into your kitchen? This makeover is loaded with details that you could easily incorporate into your own space. Caswell says she created warmth by using wood cabinets and cork floors. Graphic wallpaper and a muted tile backsplash add texture. Various shades of green trickled throughout the kitchen, bar and adjacent dining room connect the rooms.